merrion street

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan T.D., will this evening speak at an art exhibition hosted by the XL Group at their Dublin Headquarters in Stephen’s Green. The exhibition, entitled ‘Preserve & Protect: Challenge & Innovate’, is being hosted in conjunction with Business to Arts.

After a call for submissions of art works earlier this year, the XL Group convened a selection panel to consider over 500 submitted works from 206 artists from or living in Ireland. The panel included local art experts Sean Kissane, Curator, Exhibitions, Irish Museum of Modern Art and Rayne Booth, Programme Curator, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, along with local staff and XL Group’s Jennifer Schipf, Vice President of Fine Art & Specie in New York.

Eighteen artists were selected for exhibition, a total of 23 works. The company had initially intended to purchase 10 works from the exhibition, but have been so enthused by the project and the standard of work submitted, that they are more than doubling their initial purchase budget, and will now purchase 22 of the works submitted, to be installed permanently in their building in Dublin.

Speaking in advance of the event, Minister Deenihan commented:

“The Government appreciates the importance of the arts, culture and creative industries to both our society and to our economy. As a nation we have a distinctive tradition of story-telling, image-making and music, which compliments so many fields of the arts. The phrase “punching above our weight” is an oft overused one, but in terms of Irish based artists and their high levels of accomplishment I feel it is appropriate, and what we see before us this evening is proof, if it were needed, of that.”